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February showers bring March flowers...

Like every other northeast garden, I'm about a month ahead. All these spring bloomers I don't worry so much about because they can handle a freeze or few. It's the buds on the trees and on the clematis I worry for. And, for the first time ever, I have blooms on my pear tree espalier. I'm afraid I'll lose them to frost before a pollinator can get to them.

Local Garden Guru Sally Cunningham tells me that it may not be a good year for the gardens - the plants didn't get their long winter deep freeze with a nice snow covering - what they're genetically geared for. And I worry too about all the water they DIDN'T get. We had, reportedly, 35" of snow (and in the city here, I can't imagine we got any more than 15" this winter). Our normal amount is closer to 90". That means the plants are starting off the season with around 30% of their normal water!

These grape hyacinths are usually first. They're coming up slowly all over,
but the ones nearest the warm house are up full strength.

'dils will be long gone by the time they normally come up.

Lungwort can survive anything, so I don't worry so much for them.

My collection of hucheras are coming along fine, but they
pretty much look like this under a blanket of snow anyway.

Comments

35" of snow in Buffalo is very scary. I did my undergrad in Rochester, and I can't imagine such a mild winter there. Here's hoping the rest of the year stays mild so the plants don't get overly stressed!